Dovetail Business Solutions, a leading provider of software solutions for the logistics and supply chain industry, uses Heat, the service management application from FrontRange Solutions, not only to manage its support desk but also its sales pipeline for existing customers.
"We do use Heat in the usual way - for logging support calls from customers - but we have customised it to also manage the online provision to clients of quotes and their approval of those quotes," says Mugammad Behardien, training and support manager at Dovetail.
"Essentially, our dual use of Heat falls into billable and non-billable support for customers. The calls that are logged on Heat as incidents are related to issues of corrections to or training on solutions that we have implemented at customer organisations.
"Those implementations are based on solutions from other vendors that we have implemented either as a vanilla version, if the fit is good for the customer, or as customised versions for which our programmers have done development in-house here at Dovetail.
"Either way, customers need ongoing support - and we log and track their calls for that support on Heat. The support is an integral part of the contract we have with customers and so is not billable - though it does indirectly drive revenue in terms of maintaining customer loyalty.
"By contrast, creating quotes in Heat for new work for customers is a significant factor in bringing in additional business. The quotes are posted on our Web site, Heat sends the customer an SMS or e-mail to say the quote is ready for him to look at, and then the customer logs on to the Web site to process the quote. Once he has approved it, Heat automatically triggers purchase orders and other documentation relevant to getting the new job done.
"By managing this process via Heat, we have been able to speed up the sales cycle as well as automating our management of the overall sales pipeline - and thereby making ourselves both more efficient and better able to plan and budget.
"So Heat has enabled us to boost both sales and service using only one piece of technology."
FrontRange Solutions (SA) product manager for Africa, Paul Bornhutter, says once Heat customers realise that the best practice process enablement that the application provides can be applied to any business discipline, they frequently adapt the solution to multiple areas of their business.
"In other words, your return on investment in Heat is significant in terms of saved costs and improved productivity if you use it for only one business discipline - such as enabling an integrated, automated help desk service. If you then adapt it for other departments or other activities, your return on investment grows exponentially.
"That's rare in today's technology-driven business world, where applications are becoming progressively more niched and you have to add either entirely new software or other modules to cover more of your operations. Heat stretches wherever you want it to go."
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